A Christmas Bride for the King

by Abby Green

  ‘You didn’t have to do that just because you felt sorry for me...’

  He frowned. ‘Sorry for you? The last thing I feel is sorry for you.’

  Charlotte wanted to ask why again, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer. Or she did, but she was afraid it might not be what she wanted to hear.

  ‘But...you were just crowned.’ She struggled not to let her imagination run riot. She thought of something and sucked in a breath. ‘You haven’t abdicated already?’

  He shook his head. ‘I’m not going to abdicate.’

  Relief flooded Charlotte, and for a moment she couldn’t speak, she felt so overcome. Finally she managed to get out, ‘I’m glad you decided not to.’

  ‘But there is one thing that would make me consider it again.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I can’t do this without the right queen by my side. I’ve always believed I didn’t need anyone, but recently I met someone and the truth is that I can’t live without her. I was stupid enough to think that it was a temporary thing...lust. That it would burn itself out... But I was wrong. Dead wrong.’

  Charlotte wasn’t breathing.

  Salim turned and went over to the tree, bent down to pick up the small wrapped present.

  He came back and handed it to her. ‘Open your present.’

  She took it, but her hands were numb with shock and she couldn’t work out how to take the paper off. Salim took it out of her hands and she noticed that they were shaking slightly. He ripped the paper and the bow off and handed it back to her.

  It was a velvet box. Royal blue.

  She opened it. It was a ring. A stunning emerald in an antique gold setting shone up at her from white silk.

  She looked at Salim, hardly daring to ask the question even though he was looking at her in a way that set her insides alight with a very dangerous flame of hope.

  ‘What does this mean?’

  He came close and cupped her face. ‘It means, my beautiful Charlotte McQuillan, of the silk shirts that drove me to distraction and still do, that I love you. I should never have let you walk away from me. I panicked. I was all but begging you to come back to Tabat with me and it reminded me of begging Sara...’ He stopped and swallowed.

  Charlotte put a trembling hand to Salim’s jaw, scarcely able to believe what she was hearing.

  He went on. ‘I couldn’t bear the thought of watching you walk away if I begged and you said no. I was a coward. It’s taken me a lifetime to learn to love again, and I tried not to love you because I’m terrified of losing you, but it’s too late... I know what you meant now, when you thanked me for making it easy for you to walk away. I was making you choose, just like your father made you choose.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  Charlotte’s emotion overflowed and tears slipped down her cheeks.

  She whispered, ‘I used it as an excuse not to tell you how I felt. I thought it would only last until you didn’t want me any more. I had to reject you first.’ Before she lost her nerve she said fervently, ‘I love you, Salim. Even if you only think you love me and realise later—’

  He stopped her words with his mouth. His kiss was explicit and thorough and when they came up for air Charlotte was welded to Salim’s body, as close as she could get with several layers of clothing in the way.

  As if realising this, he kicked the front door closed and started to take off their coats, dropping them where they stood. He took her in his arms again, the lines of strain on his face disappearing.

  ‘I love you, Charlotte McQuillan. For ever. Come back to Tabat with me and help me to make it our home. The first real home we’ve ever had...’

  She wound her arms around his neck, emotion making her chest ache. She nodded. ‘Yes, I’d like that. I’d go to the ends of the world with you.’

  They kissed again, with less desperate urgency this time, as if savouring this moment.

  When Salim pulled back Charlotte said with a wobbly smile, ‘I saw your coronation. You looked very regal.’

  He looked serious. ‘I needed you there. That’s when I knew I couldn’t do it without you.’

  Charlotte’s heart flipped.

  And then it flipped again when he grimaced and said, ‘I’m doing this all backwards...’

  He went down on one knee and looked up at her. ‘Will you marry me, Charlotte McQuillan?’

  Love flooded her whole body and heart, healing all the past hurts. She said fervently, ‘Yes, I will.’

  ‘Now? Here?’

  Charlotte blinked. ‘But how?’

  He stood up. ‘You saw how it’s done... We can say the words to each other. Obviously we’ll get married officially, but I don’t want to waste any time.’

  Charlotte’s vision blurred and she nodded. ‘Yes, I’d like that.’

  Salim let her go and dragged a throw off the couch. He spread it on the floor and put down two cushions. He knelt on one and put out a hand for Charlotte to join him. She knelt in front of him on the other cushion, heard the fire crackling in the hearth.

  He took the ring out of the box and joined their hands together in the prayer position. Then with his free hand he touched the tops of their fingers with the ring saying, ‘I marry you...’ three times, until he came to her ring finger and slid the ring home.

  Then he took another ring out of his pocket, for him, and gave it to her. Charlotte felt the intensity of the moment as she copied his words, sliding his ring onto his finger and holding it there.

  Salim interlaced their fingers. ‘Now we’re married.’

  Charlotte said emotionally, ‘For better or worse.’

  ‘In sickness and in health.’

  ‘Till death do us part.’

  A huge smile split Salim’s face, making him look young and free.

  He reached for her. ‘Come here, Queen Al-Noury, I need to make love to my wife.’

  Charlotte went willingly, and it was much, much later when they finally emerged, sated and happy, to enjoy the first of many happy Christmases together.

  Christmas Day, a year later. Tabat City.

  ‘Three—two—one—ooh!’

  Charlotte’s breath caught along with the crowd’s as the massive Christmas tree in Tabat City’s main square sparkled and shone when a thousand tiny lights came to life against the clear dusk-filled sky.

  It was stunning, and she had been deeply moved when Rafa had come to tell her that the city’s councillors had decided they wanted to do this to honour their English queen’s heritage and make her feel at home.

  ‘Is this okay?’

  Charlotte heard the genuine concern in her husband’s voice and felt him slide an arm around her waist. She nodded and bit her lip to contain her emotion, and then said, with a small hitch in her voice, ‘It’s more than okay... I think your antics last year cured me of any negative associations with Christmas for ever, and now this...’

  He made a harrumphing sound and said, close to her ear, ‘You talk of the deeply romantic actions of a man who had never done anything like that in his life.’

  Charlotte turned her head to look up at her husband and remarked with a teasing smile, ‘Indeed—who knew that behind the stone-cold heart of a playboy there was a romantic dying to be set free?’

  He smiled and lifted her left hand, the light glinting off the solid gold eternity ring inlaid with tiny emeralds that he’d presented her with on the birth of their daughter, Sara, three months before. A month after Zafir and Kat—now both firm friends to Charlotte—had given birth to their son, Kalim.

  The crowd cheered and clapped and the bundle in Charlotte’s arms started to move, making small mewling sounds. She looked down into the just-awake eyes of her daughter and her heart squeezed.

  Sara’s eyes were still an indeterminate colour—somewhere between blue, grey and green. Charlotte secretly hoped they’d be blue, taking after her father and the beloved aunt they’d named her for. She would be the first Queen of Tabat, if she so wished. And if she didn�
��t wish it, then that would be ok too.

  Salim had vowed to do everything in his power to ensure the rules of succession were as democratic as possible so no child of theirs would be forced to take on a role they didn’t want.

  Sara’s garden in Jahor was now a much loved and visited site—a place of peace and contemplation for anyone who had suffered loss. In the past year Salim had done a lot of healing, together with his brother, and he’d truly come into his own. He was the beloved king, who was slowly but surely bringing his country into a new future.

  He had set up a foundation to take care of all his myriad business concerns, run now by carefully handpicked staff. And he was also setting up the first digital hub in this part of the world, determined not to let his tech investments fall by the wayside. There was an air of industry and optimism throughout Tabat now, and tourism was rocketing.

  Kat had been invaluable to Charlotte—helping to ease her into the intimidating role of queen—but to her relief the people of Tabat had welcomed her with unconditional acceptance and affection. The birth of their daughter had helped unite the country even more, and Charlotte’s favourite moments were those spent with the nomadic tribes out in the far reaches of the endless desert.

  Salim saw the telltale brightness in his wife’s eyes as she looked out over the crowd and felt an answering surge of emotion. He still couldn’t believe where he was now—who he was. How rich his life was. And how poor it would have been if he hadn’t finally embraced his destiny.

  He deftly took Sara from Charlotte’s arms, cradling her against his chest. His daughter gazed up at him with the unblinking trust and love that humbled him every time he looked at her.

  They waved for the few more requisite minutes, and as the crowd’s cheers died down and they finally started to disperse Charlotte slid her arm around his waist.

  He looked down at her. She smiled. ‘Home?’

  Salim’s heart felt so full it might burst. He nodded and said emotionally, ‘Yes, home.’

  And together they went back to their palace, savouring every moment of joy and happiness their love brought them, because they both knew the value of learning to trust and love again.

  * * * * *

  EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT

  Leonidas Betancur was presumed dead after a plane crash, and he cannot recall the vows he made to his bride Susannah four years ago. But once tracked down, his memories resurface – and he’s ready to collect his belated wedding night! Susannah wants Leonidas to reclaim his empire and free her of his legacy. But dangerously attractive Leonidas steals her innocence with a touch… And the consequences of their passion will bind them together for ever!

  Read on for a sneak preview of Caitlin Crews’ next story

  A BABY TO BIND HIS BRIDE

  One Night With Consequences

  There was a discreet knock on the paneled door and the doctor stepped back into the room.

  “Congratulations, madame, monsieur,” the doctor said, nodding at each of them in turn while Susannah’s breath caught in her throat. “The test is positive. You are indeed pregnant, as you suspected.”

  She barely noticed when Leonidas escorted the doctor from the room. He could have been gone for hours. When he returned he shut the door behind him, enclosing them in the salon that had seemed spacious before, and that was when Susannah walked stiffly around the settee to sit on it.

  His dark, tawny gaze had changed, she noticed. It had gone molten. He still held himself still, though she could tell the difference in that, too. It was as if an electrical current ran through him now, charging the air all around him even while his mouth remained in an unsmiling line.

  And he looked at her as if she was naked. Stripped. Flesh and bone with nothing left to hide.

  “Is it so bad, then?” he asked in a mild sort of tone she didn’t believe at all.

  Susannah’s chest was so heavy, and she couldn’t tell if it was the crushing weight of misery or something far more dangerous. She held her belly with one hand as if it was already sticking out. As if the baby might start kicking at any second.

  “The Betancur family is a cage,” she told him, or the parquet floor beneath the area rug that stretched out in front of the fireplace, and it cost her to speak so precisely. So matter-of-factly. “I don’t want to live in a cage. There must be options.”

  “I am not a cage,” Leonidas said with quiet certainty. “The Betancur name has drawbacks, it is true, and most of them were at that gala tonight. But it is also not a cage. On the contrary. I own enough of the world that it is for all intents and purposes yours now. Literally.” dpg!

  “I don’t want the world.” She didn’t realize she’d shot to her feet until she was taking a step toward him, very much as if she thought she might take a swing at him next. As if she’d dare. “I don’t need you. I don’t want you. I want to be free.”

  He took her face in his hands, holding her fast, and this close his eyes were a storm. Ink dark with gold like lightning, and she felt the buzz of it. Everywhere.

  “This is as close as you’re going to get, little one,” he told her, the sound of that same madness in his gaze, his voice.

  And then he claimed her mouth with his.

  Don’t miss

  A BABY TO BIND HIS BRIDE

  By Caitlin Crews

  Available January 2018

  www.millsandboon.co.uk

  Copyright ©2017 Caitlin Crews

  ISBN: 978-1-474-05316-7

  A CHRISTMAS BRIDE FOR THE KING

  © 2017 Abby Green

  Published in Great Britain 2017

  by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

  All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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